Like his fellow post-punk humanitarian
Bob Geldof, former
Ultravox vocalist
Midge Ure has become far more renowned for his extracurricular charitable activities than his rather sporadic solo musical output. Despite scoring a number one single with 1985's "If I Was," the Live Aid and Live 8 trustee, Save the Children ambassador, and OBE recipient for services to charity, has since struggled to repeat the success of his early "Vienna" glory days, with his last chart entry, 1991's
Pure, appearing almost a generation ago. Seven years after his last LP Move Me,
Ure returns to the fold with ten reworkings of tracks that have inspired his four-decade-spanning career, which were originally intended to be recorded way back at the start of the '80s. Indeed, his debut single, a rendition of
the Walker Brothers' "No Regrets," released while he was still in
Ultravox, was supposed to be the first cut from a covers-based side project that was later shelved following record company interference. Now, more than 25 years on, the concept finally sees the light of day, but whether it's been worth the wait will depend on your your threshold for downbeat, simplified, acoustic MOR. While his emotive performance of
Thin Lizzy's poetic "A Song While I'm Away" is a poignant nod to his brief spell in the '70s Irish rock band, and
Cilla Black's "Alfie" and
Lulu's "To Sir with Love" provide a sense of intrigue due to their gender-swapping vocals, the majority of
"10" is the kind of bland and predictable fare that you'd expect from
Ronan Keating, not the musician responsible for some of the most iconic synth pop songs of all time. Backed by just an acoustic guitar and the occasional flashes of violin or drums,
Ure's insipid, whispered vocals drain the life out of
Long John Baldry's "Let the Heartaches Begin,"
the Small Faces' "My Mind's Eye," and
David Bowie's "Lady Stardust," while the likes of
the Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love" and
Badfinger's "Day After Day" are given the elevator music treatment, thanks to their ultra-basic Casio keyboard-esque production. Considering this selection of songs have been personally chosen by
Ure, apparently because of their huge meaning to him, it's even more unforgivable that he sounds completely and utterly bored and disengaged throughout.
"10" could have been his chance to remind the world of his previously unquestionable vocals and songwriting talents. But instead, it's a hatchet job which suggests that he should jump on the revival bandwagon and re-form one of his many previous bands if he's to make any kind of impact on the music scene ever again. ~ Jon O'Brien